Lifeboat Foundation

Calabi-Yau manifolds, 6D shapes that are crucial to string theory, were named after the late Eugenio Calabi (right), who proposed the shapes in the 1950s, and Shing-Tung Yau, who in the 1970s set out to prove Calabi wrong but ended up doing the opposite.

Using machine learning, string theorists are finally showing how microscopic configurations of extra dimensions translate into sets of elementary particles — though not yet those of our universe.

Scientists have introduced a form of quantum entanglement known as frequency-domain photon number-path entanglement. This advance in quantum physics involves an innovative tool called a frequency beam splitter, which has the unique ability to alter the frequency of individual photons with a 50% success rate.

For years, the scientific community has delved into spatial-domain photon number-path entanglement, a key player in the realms of quantum metrology and information science.

This concept involves photons arranged in a special pattern, known as NOON states, where they’re either all in one pathway or another, enabling applications like super-resolution imaging that surpasses traditional limits, the enhancement of quantum sensors, and the development of quantum computing algorithms designed for tasks requiring exceptional phase sensitivity.

Most models for the overall shape and geometry of the Universe—including some exotic ones—are compatible with the latest cosmic observations.

Is the Universe simply connected like a sphere or does it contain holes like a doughnut or a more complicated structure? The topology of the Universe—that is, its overall geometry—remains far from settled, according to a collaboration of cosmologists. Despite past claims that observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) rule out various topologies, the researchers contend that many of these shapes, including some strange ones, have not been contradicted by the evidence [1].

The overall geometry of the Universe is thought to have been determined by quantum processes that unfolded in the initial moment of the big bang. Identifying the topology of the Universe would provide researchers with an important clue as to the nature of those quantum processes and could help them sift through the many proposed theories of the early Universe.

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An international collaboration of researchers, led by Philip Walther at University of Vienna, have achieved a significant breakthrough in quantum technology, with the successful demonstration of quantum interference among several single photons using a novel resource-efficient platform. The work published in the prestigious journal Science Advances represents a notable advancement in optical quantum computing that paves the way for more scalable quantum technologies.

Interference among photons, a fundamental phenomenon in quantum optics, serves as a cornerstone of optical quantum computing. It involves harnessing the properties of light, such as its wave-particle duality, to induce interference patterns, enabling the encoding and processing of quantum information.

In traditional multi-photon experiments, spatial encoding is commonly employed, wherein photons are manipulated in different spatial paths to induce interference. These experiments require intricate setups with numerous components, making them resource-intensive and challenging to scale.

The bizarre feat can be achieved in special, two-dimensional crystals by deforming them only slightly, a new study discovered.

Scaling up qubit counts in quantum computers is at the core of achieving quantum supremacy.

Among the troublesome hurdles of this scaling-up race is refining how qubits are measured. Devices called parametric amplifiers are traditionally used to do these measurements. But as the name suggests, the device amplifies weak signals picked up from the qubits to conduct the readout, which causes unwanted noise and can lead to decoherence of the qubits if not protected by additional large components. More importantly, the bulky size of the amplification chain becomes technically challenging to work around as qubit counts increase in size-limited refrigerators.

Cue the Aalto University research group Quantum Computing and Devices (QCD). They have a hefty track record of showing how thermal bolometers can be used as ultrasensitive detectors, and they just demonstrated in an April 10 Nature Electronics paper that bolometer measurements can be accurate enough for single-shot qubit readout.

Continue reading “New method of measuring qubits promises ease of scalability in a microscopic package” »

Physicists have proposed modifications to the infamous Schrödinger’s cat paradox that could help explain why quantum particles can exist in more than one state simultaneously, while large objects (like the universe) seemingly cannot.

Entanglement is a form of correlation between quantum objects, such as particles at the atomic scale. The laws of classical physics cannot explain this uniquely quantum phenomenon, yet it is one of the properties that explain the macroscopic behavior of quantum systems.

Because entanglement is central to the way quantum systems work, understanding it better could give scientists a deeper sense of how information is stored and processed efficiently in such systems.

Qubits, or quantum bits, are the building blocks of a quantum computer. However, it is extremely difficult to make specific entangled states in many-qubit systems, let alone investigate them. There are also a variety of entangled states, and telling them apart can be challenging.